U.S. woman tests positive for Zika after travelling from Guyana

Zika isn’t just in South America-the virus has spread up Central America to Mexico and has also been detected in the Caribbean, Pacific Islands and Cape Verde.

Taiwan also said travelers returning from Thailand should use condoms for at least a month to prevent transmission of the virus.

Participating in the health-related activities were 220,000 military servicemembers and 272,000 public health personnel, of whom some 46,000 are specially trained to fight epidemics, the ministry said.

Alarms have been raised due to possible link between the virus and the birth defect that causes the babies to take birth with unusually small head and in many cases even brain damage.

The state government’s move came after separate reports from the Argentine group Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns (PCST) and Brazilian Collective Health Association (Abrasco) suggested that the larvicide, not the Zika virus, was responsible for the alarming spike in microcephaly. Health officials confirmed a case of Zika virus infection through sexual intercourse in Texas.

The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes from conjunctivitis.

Several countries have urged women to avoid getting pregnant as researchers work to confirm whether Zika causes microcephaly and the neurological disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome.

In its report, PCST claims that in 2014 the Brazilian Ministry of Health introduced pyriproxyfen to drinking-water reservoirs in the state of Pernambuco, where the proliferation of the Zika-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito is very high.

Though there are no known cases of Zika being transmitted by mosquito in the continental United States, the number of infected Americans continues to grow. Until the link could be confirmed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that pregnant women in any trimester practice special precautions to prevent being infected with the virus.

For women who are infected while pregnant, however, the risks are much greater.

The state health department has launched a Zika information hotline, 855-622-7635, for residents and people who are planning to visit the state.